[DWJ] Dorian

Thank you *so* much for that detailed account, Hallie! It¹s absolutely
wonderful to get such positive news about her. Yay! That¹s so good!
Ros
On 7/10/2015 3:44 am, "Dwj on behalf of Hallie O'Donovan"
<dwj-bounces at suberic.net on behalf of hallieod at gmail.com> wrote:
>A small *progress* report, for those who don't belong to the FB group.
>(Apologies to those who do, as I believe Patrick and Dorian's parents have
>been updating there, and this won't be anything new.)
>>I started going in to the hospital once a week around the end of April,
>and
>for several months there'd be no real change in her condition between
>visits. She did make small improvements even then, but her progress was
>slow and late in starting, and that wasn't giving the doctors much reason
>to be very hopeful about her long-term recovery. As well as that, there
>was
>this sort of 'deadline' of two years hanging over her; the family was told
>that any improvement she was going to make would be within the two years,
>and after that, nothing could really be expected.
>>Around the beginning of August, she started to be quite noticeably more
>alert - and if buses got more apparent interest than family or friends, it
>was still good. After that, there was a real change in the rate of
>improvement, with Dorian showing purposeful movements, like rubbing her
>nose, or pushing hair out of her face, which were all completely new.
>Patrick said that the occupational therapists were noticing these
>improvements too. Their stand-by was tickling her face with a feather, and
>that started getting repeated hand-swats: DO NOT WANT. She'll take things
>and hand them back to you, push blankets off and even hold your hand down
>on the bed if you keep doing the thing she wants you not to do. (That's
>Patrick. I usually back down. And, yes, those hospital tissues were *much*
>too scratchy. I brought soft ones!) The occupational therapist told
>Patrick
>that typically the things she disliked would be responded to more quickly
>than those she liked. No better woman for that! Patrick says he'll be the
>happiest husband in Ireland when his wife tells him to F**K off in words,
>rather than just disgusted expression.
>>I was quite excited the week before last when she dabbed her fingers into
>the lotion I had in my hand and spread some on her other hand. There's so
>much hope in the responses to things that irritate her, but this might
>have
>been even more encouraging, as she was doing something that wasn't a
>reaction *against*. You wouldn't say that she's following the story when
>you read to her, but it is really obvious now that she's aware of changes
>in tone - or snorts of derision, as may be the case. (To Say Nothing of
>the
>Dog. Ned had said how perfectly quiet and relaxing the Victorian era would
>be for his recuperation, with its sweet, submissive women. I snorted. She
>looked at me intently.)
>>Not only is the rehab consultant very happy with her improvement, but even
>more positively, he's backed away from the two-years-as-recovery-endpoint
>stance. That's huge, because every time you were joyful about a big leap
>in
>recovery, you couldn't help but worry that that time was getting ever
>closer. Had the doctor known Dorian *before* the accident, he might have
>understood that she'd take her own sweet time about recovering if she felt
>like it.
>>There's still a long road ahead of her, but it's so wonderful now that you
>can see her being firmly ON that road. All her family are amazing, and I'm
>sure everyone will have good thoughts for them as well.
>>Hallie
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